Embers Ballad
by DarkFireheartNinja
Summary: Minamisawa Atsushi and Kurama Norihito had been together for 6 years now. Their love has been through the wringer but they got through it. But when Atsushi pops the question, what will his beloved say? A long overdue request by OoO.Fuwa Ai.OoO


**Embers Ballad**

**This is a request that ** **made long time ago that I only just now finished. I hope it was worth the wait.**

"Marry me."

Norihito had been slowly nuzzling his lover's neck, softly placing kisses along the skin, when he heard those words. It was barely a whisper, merely breathed  
out as if he was not really meant to have heard. The words came from above his head, and no sooner had he turned his face up that he felt gentle lips press onto his forehead. He had heard Atsushi say those words to him many times, usually after some extremely vigorous amorous doings, sometimes heard whispered in sleep. They had talked about marriage, there being a running joke of who would be the bride and who would wear the pants in the relationship. But then he hadn't thought Atsushi was serious and he wasn't sure what exactly would change in what they already have. So he of course took the two words (which he may or may not have heard, bit hard to say) with a pinch of salt.

He pulled away first, then clambered onto his beloved to press his own lips to his, the innocent peck soon becoming more passionate with each second. When he finally came up for air he placed one last kiss on Atsushi's forehead and playfully ruffled that gorgeous mess of purple hair a little as he returned to snuggling alongside him on the futon placed near a wonderfully warm but muted fireplace, the glowing embers the only light that illuminated them. But Atsushi, while flushed and breathing hard, remained serious.

"I meant it."

"What?" Norihito muttered dreamily.

Atsushi inhaled deeply, shifting up from their position. "When I asked marry me," he said, pausing to swallow deeply. "I meant it."

Norihito stared, quite dumbstruck, as the taller male stood up, watched as he padded over to he had dropped his jacket, and he sat up as his lover returned. Atsushi then held his hand out, his gold and reddish-brown eyes avoiding Norihito's dark ones, almost shyly as he placed something into his young lover's hand. He sat back and Norihito took it as his cue to unfurl his fingers. A velvet ring box sat snugly in his palm. _Oh…._ As the tiny flames in the fireplace flared and begged for more kindling, his trembling hands opened the velvet lined container to reveal a pair of gold bands, simple and shining, almost glowing as brightly as the embers in the fireplace.

"I guess I didn't really ask it properly," Atsushi began, his tone laced with nervousness. Norihito rarely got to see this nervous side to his boyfriend, and he had to admit, Atsushi looked very cute right now.

Norihito's breath escaped him for a brief moment. He swallowed heavily.

"My father helped me pick them out," Atsushi said, his eyes fixed on the rings.

"Really?" Well, that's a surprise. When they first started dating back in high school neither of their parents were particularly enthused. His mother eventually got over it but it was Minamisawa's old man who remained the loudest voice decrying their relationship. So for him to have changed his tone….

"What happened?" he asked, hoping that Atsushi hadn't done something so drastic as to beat his old man up… he wouldn't do just to get him rings… would he?

As if reading his mind, Atsushi waved his hands as he explained, "I only went to see him, and nothing too dramatic happened."

"So what did happen?"

"Well, after he was done swearing at me and calling me a sinner, I told him calmly that I love Kurama Norihito. That I have always loved this cute, _tsundere_-ish junior even before I knew what love was. That I don't appreciate all the badmouthing he had given you over the years because it was you who had kept me going through all the hard times when I felt like giving it all up. Well, a lot of other things were said, but it's too long a story." Smirking that so gorgeous smirk, Atsushi bowed over Norihito's free hand and pressed a hard kiss on the back, another one in the palm. "It was you who held me away from the brink, gave me a home, something worth caring for," he added, his breath ghosting over Norihito's skin.

Norihito smiled at his love, the man he had been with for over six years, in whom he had seen both strong and weak sides, and whom knew his own imperfections and still loved him. It _had_ been difficult, though more on Atsushi than on Norihito. When they started out they had been so optimistic, naively so, thinking that the people closest to them, their closest friends, their families, would understand that they love each other, and hopefully overlook the gay thing. In the years that passed, only about a tenth of their friends from middle and high school stuck by them, and that is something considering they didn't have many friends to begin with. Not even their own parents…. Atsushi had been very close to his but when he told them, about himself and about Norihito, it was like they morphed into different people. Their once perfect family became a routine of either stepping on eggshells around each other, or arming themselves with the most hurtful things people bonded by blood can say to each other. One particularly bad fight ended with them throwing Atsushi out and none of his old friends wanted anything to do with him. Not Sangoku, Kurumada, Amagi, or even Shindou. He had sunk into depression, almost broken, and it was only through alternately indulging and tough love on the part of Norihito and what remained of their tiny ring of peers to get him back from that darkness. And in turn, it had been Atsushi who spoke to Mrs. Kurama about how he loved and cherished her son deeply, and that he would never hurt him and he would never let anyone else do so.

"You can think it over, I will wait…"

Atsushi's voice brought him back from his reminisce, back to the little container in his hand. Norihito turned away slightly, only to lean back into his boyfriend's broad chest, sighing contently as arms circled to hold him. He felt Atsushi buried his face into his hair, felt the chest behind him rise and fall as Atsushi breathed him in, patiently waiting for an answer. Gazing at the rings… for some reason images of the past, snippets of things, awful and spiteful things said to him and Atsushi just because 'normal' people didn't understand that they were in love.

"_You are sick, the both of you are sick!"_

"_Get the hell away, freak!"_

"_May God forgive you."_

Disgusting; queers; degenerates; sinners. So many things people said of them, but in the end just one look at Atsushi's devil-may-care, hair-flipping confidence and he felt ready to take on the world again. So many couples, gay and straight, break up because they believed the naysayers and they couldn't trust each other enough to stamp out the seeds of doubt… but he has always trusted Atsushi. When everyone said they would not last, Atsushi held him and told him over and over how much he loved him. Sure, they had their ups and downs, serious issues that had threatened to tear them apart, but they got through it all. Not totally unscathed but certainly stronger than ever.

On the other hand, they're talking marriage here… making their love truly recognizable in law… the gold band glittered as he pulled one out and slipped it on. A perfect fit. Imagine walking around with this thing on, it would be like giving the finger to all those haters and doubters.

More significant, it would be a testament that they – he and Atsushi – were right, that their love was true and that it will last.

Atsushi hugged the smaller body, enjoying the warmth that emanated from it. At last, after lying in his arms for so long he was starting to think Norihito had fallen asleep, he felt the lithe form stirring. He loosened his hold slightly, allowing Norihito the space to turn, his heart beating hard as the face of his beloved came into view. Out of habit, he swept the thick fringe covering Norihito's left eye, so that he may take in the entire visage, and he found himself transfixed with those deep onyx eyes glittering in the soft light, the lips he's kissed so many times yet he never tires of them were parted in a half-smile. He watched in wonder as Norihito inhaled deeply, and then,

"Yes."

He had heard that simple word almost all the time, but considering the setting now and hearing it from Norihito, it was as if he had heard it for the first time. Atsushi felt lightheaded, having finally realized he had unconsciously held his breath as he waited for a 'yes' or 'no way in hell.'

They both laughed and hugged and kissed. "Yes, I will marry you!" his beloved Norihito kept saying, and Atsushi's heart was filled, overflowing with love and joy.

Later, after a couple of rounds of loving like never before, Norihito gazed at the sleeping man beside him. To think he had always been the cynic, but maybe because it was Atsushi, because he can be certain that he loved him, that he had already known deep down what the answer would be.

* * *

-1 year later-

Minamisawa Atsushi nervously fidgeted with his shirt cuffs. He brushed stray (invisible) bits of lint from his tux and then set about adjusting his tie. His reflection, just as nervous as himself, leaned forward to tweak its fringe just as he does.

If he had been told that he would be getting married – and to a man, no less – seven years ago, he would have wondered if the person making such a forecast had been kicked upside the head. Especially when the man in question is his former underclassman, a dear friend who had made his breath catch in his throat, the butterflies in his stomach, and all those other generic phrases for feelings more akin to romance than friendship.

In those early days when he finally could no longer deny that he loved Norihito, it was like his heart had changed places with his brain. And when Norihito confirmed that the feeling was mutual he had been over the moon. They couldn't keep their thoughts and their hands off each other. He took pleasure in holding his lover's hand, a stolen kiss or two whenever they could, or when they first gave themselves to each other. It had been a very different kind of love back then, the fiery kind that threatened to consume. But when the ostracizing and the anger and hate began and he fell into that deep dark hole, that fire hadn't been able to stay bright enough. That was when Norihito really stepped up. His love fanned the embers that were dying from neglect, brought the fire back to life, bringing _him_ back to life. Then their love transformed into something lasting, a bond on a deeper level yet it was still just as passionate. He can't think of anyone else he would rather have at that alter with him, sharing their vows on this day, than Kurama Norihito.

"So, you're really going into this with both feet, son."

Atsushi glanced up at the creased face reflected just over his shoulder. Their faces look very alike except his father had more lines along his forehead and around his eyes.

"Yes, Father," the younger Minamisawa answered, smiling warmly as he returned to fussing with his tie. In his previous adjustments he had winded up loosening and messing up the thing.

"Here, let me," suddenly he was removed from the mirror and his father was fixing up the wayward tie. "There," he muttered when he was done. "You look perfectly fine, son." He may have just imagined it but Atsushi thought he heard just a hint of pride in his father's voice.

Atsushi mumbled his thanks, his words barely able to get past the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. Before that day he had asked Norihito to marry him he hadn't spoken to his father in over four years, that last time being a shouting match at his mother's funeral, which almost escalated into a fist fight if his aunt and Norihito hadn't pulled them away. Since that day almost a year ago though, with Norihito's encouragement, he had been working on restoring that relationship he once had with his father.

"So you love this Kurama bo – er, individual," his father asked. It was obvious he still hadn't quite gotten over that his son was marrying another man, but the fact that he was even here at all was heartening. Atsushi inhaled deeply, swallowing hard as he nodded.

"I'm going to be frank; I still find it hard to come to terms that your orientation is… _different _from what I'm used to. No no, let me finish please," the older man said, holding up a hand to quell Atsushi's protest. "But since your mother passed, I saw that I was just pushing you away; because there really is no reason for me to doubt your decision. Just because we finally knew more about you than we were comfortable with, your mother and I acted as if you were some stranger."

"But you hadn't changed at all. You're still my son. And he… Kurama is a good bo – person. Even though the few times I've been around him were not particularly pleasant, even _I_ can see that he loves my son. When… when he stood steadily by you when my actions should've sent him running for the hills…. I see that he certainly loves you."

Atsushi listened in stunned silence as his father delivered the speech he had never thought he'd hear coming from him. And then he smiled and, for the first time in so long, hugged his father. "Thank you! The support means the world to me."

All too soon the moment is over and his father smacked him gruffly on the shoulder. "Ok, it's time to go. Are you ready?"

Atsushi smiled, flipped his long bangs off his face just like he used to long ago. Straightening up, he put a hand out to the door. On the other side of the wooden portal his bride/groom is waiting, and he cannot wait to see him.

"Yes, I am."

__

End


End file.
